Question

Matthew was born with jaundice, which included yellowing of his skin, rapid heart rate, and dark urine. His father and his grandfather also were born with jaundice. Matthew was excited to try a new recipe out on his family, Moroccan fava bean soup. Shortly after eating the soup, Matthew, his father, and his grandfather looked pale and became weak. After a trip to the doctor they found they had suffered from hemolytic anemia.

Classify the case as Infectious (I) or Non-infectious (N). Further classify Infectious diseases as caused by either Eukaryotic (E), Bacterial (B), or Viral (V) agents. Further classify Non-Infectious diseases as either Genetically Inherited (G) or Environmentally Caused (EC).

Use one complete sentence to explain why you chose these classifications and how the individual may have got the disease.

Answer 1

According to the information, the family suffers from jaundice by birth. This is clearly suggestive that the disease is non-infectious in nature (N).

Since the family is inheriting the disease from the parents into the ascendants, it seems tha the disease is Genetically inherited (G).

Explanation: The information suggests that the family suffers from some kind of metabolic disorder which is genetically inherited in them. The fact that only males are affected suggests that the disease is inherited in sex-linked manner. Infact, the observation that consumption of fava beans aggrevated the disease suggests that the family suffers from metabolic Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency (GPD) which render them unable to digest some specific type of sugars. Consumption of fava beans aggrevates this metabolic syndrome further. This condition is called favism and such patients are advised to avoid consumption of sugar-rich foods along with fava beans.